Calorie intake advice?

moonturk

Hi, I'm just trying to bounce off ideas and see what people think of where I've set my calorie goal.

Stats:
6'2"
217lbs
30.4% BF (using a fat scale, so probably not all that accurate)
Job: Mostly at desk for 8 hours
Activity: Mostly on my feet otherwise caring for two small kids
Exercise: On average 4-5 times a week with a minimum of 30 mins per day. Most of that is using Xbox Fitness doing strenght, core and HIIT. I also swim laps twice a week in the mornings.

I do eat at a deficit of 1000 to lose weight as I'd like to end up around 190 and 20% BF or better. MFP sets me up to eat 1500 calories a day. I found it too low so I eating 1750 a day and feel fine with appetite.

Weight is not going down much over the past month, but without measuring I know I've lost inches all over the place. In other words I don't care much for the scale numbers anymore.

Wondering if others have opinions on this. Too low? Too high?

Brandolin11

The good news is that you don't have to ask other MFP'ers for the answer, and you don't have to guess! There are scientific formulas which will tell you exactly what to do.

I'm using the following calculator, for your future reference: http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/tools/Calculator-Daily-Calorie.html

You gave us the following parameters:
Age: 37
Gender: male
Weight: 217 lbs
Height: 74"
Activity level: workout 5x a week (we'll go on the high side and say 5x/wk since you do some swimming as well)

When we input this into the calculator we come up with the following:

Your BMR = 2,103
To maintain your current weight, you'd have to eat 3,259 cals a day
To lose 1 lb a week you should eat 2,759 cals a day
To lose 2 lbs a week you should eat 2,259 cals a day

My suggestion is to choose 2 lbs a week for 2,259 cals a day. Here's where it gets REAL easy:

-Manually input 2,259 into MFP.
-Eat that many calories a day and track them meticulously.
-Keep exercising as you have been, but don't enter your exercise calories back into MFP and don't eat them back (they are already accounted for, in the calculation). Just eat 2,259 and exercise.
-Every time you lose 10 lbs, redo the calculation and re-enter that amount into MFP.
-Rinse and repeat.

Boom. Done. No questions, no guesswork, no opinions. Just science. If you have any questions, let me know

tpfoodie

Oh my gosh, the post above was so helpful. I've been doing it wrong all this time?!?! I always included my exercise calories and ate many of them back. It tells me I need to eat 1700+ per day for a one pound gain and I've been at 1500 so I hope that that is ok. Hmm... Well thank you for sharing!

Holly_Roman_Empire

Oh my gosh, the post above was so helpful. I've been doing it wrong all this time?!?! I always included my exercise calories and ate many of them back. It tells me I need to eat 1700+ per day for a one pound gain and I've been at 1500 so I hope that that is ok. Hmm... Well thank you for sharing!

Don't eat your exercise calories ONLY if you included your workouts in your calculation.

Brandolin11

Oh my gosh, the post above was so helpful. I've been doing it wrong all this time?!?! I always included my exercise calories and ate many of them back. It tells me I need to eat 1700+ per day for a one pound gain and I've been at 1500 so I hope that that is ok. Hmm... Well thank you for sharing!

Don't eat your exercise calories ONLY if you included your workouts in your calculation.

Yes, exactly. If you used the calculator I included above, do NOT eat back ANY calories. Just put the amount into MFP manually and eat that, then do your exercise and call it a day.

moonturk

Thanks Brandolin11!

Seems like I'm under eating from those calculations. The way I was setup was 1700 cals plus I would always eat back my exercise. On exercise days that means I'd eat roughly 2000 cals.

The reason I came to 1700, was by using the MFP calculators and by selecting the "desk job" it dropped be to 1500 cals after the 1000 cals deficit. Found that way too low so I upped it to 1700.

Anyway, I'll definitely play around with your suggestions. I always had a feeling I was to low, hence my reason for posting

89nunu

I actually think it is much more sustainable to shoot for 1lb loss a week! You don't have that much more to go.

Also if you bump them up now go slowly adding 100 a week and you will probably see a jump in the scale which is not fat!! So don't be alarmed

brianlowell

Really good calculator to use is:
http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

moonturk

I actually think it is much more sustainable to shoot for 1lb loss a week! You don't have that much more to go.

Also if you bump them up now go slowly adding 100 a week and you will probably see a jump in the scale which is not fat!! So don't be alarmed

Yeah definitely leaning that way. At first I was looking at the scale as my success, but ever since I started doing more strength training, the scale doesn't move but the inches are.

lmd_1979

Get yourself a tape measure as well.

sirvivor007

What bother me is you say you have eaten 1700 calories and over a month weight has not changed. Those do not add up when by your numbers you should be losing eating much more than that. You cant add muscle in a calorie deficit and it cant magically equal the same amount of fat loss.

Unless you are weighing and tracking all food I would say you are GROSSLY underestimating you intake. Losing inches quickly typically means you are getting rid of excess sodium and water from your muscles as you glycogen levels get depleted.

Do you have a food scale and measuing cups/spoons?

moonturk

What bother me is you say you have eaten 1700 calories and over a month weight has not changed. Those do not add up when by your numbers you should be losing eating much more than that. You cant add muscle in a calorie deficit and it cant magically equal the same amount of fat loss.

Unless you are weighing and tracking all food I would say you are GROSSLY underestimating you intake. Losing inches quickly typically means you are getting rid of excess sodium and water from your muscles as you glycogen levels get depleted.

Do you have a food scale and measuing cups/spoons?

The scale hasn't moved because of the holidays. I didn't really track fully aware I wouldn't lose. So for a 2 week stretch I probably ate more in a maintenance mode more than anything.

No I don't always measure, yes I know I should.

I'm not here complaining about the scale though, I don't care. I'm asking what others opinion was of my calorie intake. My concern is/was, am I eating enough with the amount of exercise I do.